Car body made of angularly joined body parts



B BARENYI 2,886,373

CAR BODY MADE OF ANGULARLY JOINED BODY PARTS May 12, 1959 Filed May 9, '1955 I/VVf/VTOR BELA BARE/VKZ' United States Patent CAR BODY MADE OF ANGULARLY JOINED BODY PARTS Bla Barnyi, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany, assignor to Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart-Unterturkheim, Germany Application May 9, 1955, Serial No. 506,897

"Claims priority, application Germany May 10, 1954 4 Claims. (Cl. 296-28) The present invention relates to an automobile body, the outer covering of which consists of a plurality of individual parts which are joined together so as to give such body a uniform appearance.

In prior automobile constructions of this type it has always been regarded as essential that the individual parts of the outer covering, except for any intentional slots which might be desired for ventilating purposes, be joined together as closely and tightly as possible. This required that the individual parts had to be molded and cut very accurately and that the adjacent edges had to conform with each other as closely as possible so that they could then be fitted tightly relative to each other. Such accuracy in manufacture and installation obviously increased the expense of such bodies considerably.

It is now the principal object of the present invention to provide a car body of the mentioned type which may be manufactured and assembled more easily and at a considerably lower expensethan similar bodies previously made, and in such a manner that even considerable inaccuracies of the individual parts of the covering will neither be noticeable nor detract from the pleasing appearance of the car.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a car body, the covering parts of which may be fitted together without any particular accuracy, especially at all their edge portions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a car body with an outer covering consisting of a plurality of individual parts, the adjacent portions of which are separated by gaps or slots.

A further object of the present invention is to construct the joints between the individual adjacent parts of the covering in such a manner that the edges thereof overlap each other, that the outer walls of the adjacent parts form a gap or slotlike clearances therebetween and that the outer surfaces of two adjacent parts include an angle of less than 180 degrees.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to superimpose the adjacent edges in a manner somewhat similar to the scales of a fish.

Another object of the present invention is to design the joints between the adjacent parts of the covering so that the edges of one part will be disposed substantially perpendicularly to those of the adjacent part and so as to form a gap or clearance between one part and the edge of the adjacent part. More specifically, the invention provides one part of the covering to project inwardly over the edge of the adjacent superimposed part and to bead its edge in a manner so as to lie with an intermediate clearance behind the superimposed part.

Further, according to the invention, the slots between the individual parts of the covering may be formed equally along all edges either according to one or the other manner provided by the invention, or both embodiments may be applied on the same part of the covering by connecting the latter to the adjacent part partly by "ice 2 overlapping and partly by being disposed perpendicularly thereto in the manner as previously described.

The present invention is also applicable to the end portions of a car body, such as bumpers or terminal caps by connecting the adjacent parts of the covering thereto so as to form intermediate gaps or clearances. A particular preferred embodiment of a car body according to the invention may, for example, be designed so that the upper part of the body covering consists of a plurality, for example, three, half-shells which overlap each other along their transverse edge portions.

Still another object of the present invention is either to utilize gaps between the individual parts of the covering for various purposes, such as ventilating slots, or to seal the gaps along the inside by resilient means.

Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof as well as from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a side view of an automobile with a body construction according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a diagrammatic longitudinal section of a modification according to the invention;

Fig. 3 shows a partial cross section taken along line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 shows a partial cross section taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section through another modification of a car body according to the invention; while Fig. 6 shows a top view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, and first particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, the car body essentially consists of two hoodlike upper parts 1 and 2, and the lower parts 3 and 4 with an intermediate door 5. At its opposite ends, the car body terminates into caplike end portions 6. In upward direction the car body is closed off by a roof 7 which may, for example, consist of double walls and project beyond the window portions 8 and 9. These windows 8 and 9 are preferably mounted on the covering of the car body so that the upper outside edge of the upper parts 1 and 2 preject upwardly over the lower edge of the windows 8 and 9, and that a slotlike clearance will be formed between the windows 8 and 9 and the parts 1 and 2, respectively. By providing such slotlike clearances between the parts 1 and 2 and the windows 8 and 9, and, on the other hand, by making the roof 7 of two walls and allowing its outer wall to project over the upper edge of the windows 8 and 9, no particular accuracy will be required for installing and fitting the windows 8 and 9 into the car body. Similar slotlike clearance may also be provided between the caplike end portions 6 and the covering parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and the provision of such clearances will facilitate the mounting and connecting of these parts considerably.

In the embodiment of the invention as shown in Fig. 2, such slotlike clearances are provided along all the edges of the two covering parts 1 and 2. In a downward direction, the car body of this modification is closed off by means of a tub-shaped, one-piece base portion 10. The separating line between the base portion 10 and the two upper parts 1 and 2 may be designed, as shown in Fig. 3 so that the edge of the lower part 10 is beaded-over toward the inside and the edges of the upper parts 1 and 2 face such beaded portion with a clearance between them, thus being disposed substantially perpendicularly to each other. The edges of the upper parts 1 and 2 and the lower part 10 are likewise disposed substantially perpendicularly to the end portion 6 which may also form a bumper rod, and to the other end portion 11 which may form a hoopshapedrear, bumper, and in each case, a clearance may be provided between the adjacent parts. A top portion 12 which may consist of a single element is disposed with a similar clearance intermediate and within the parts 1 and 2 and the door 5;

Referring to the modification showin in Figs. 5 and 6, the top 12 has a forwardly bent front edge which is superimposed by the rear end of the upper part 1, while the outwardly bent rear edge of top 12 overlaps the front end of the rear part 2. The base portion of the car body is formed in this embodiment by a frame 13 which supports an outwardly projecting, annular cover part 14. The upwardly extending edge of this cover part 14 pro jects under the covering parts 1 and 2 and the top 12, and slotlike clearances are again provided between these parts and the covering part 14.

The slotlike clearances between the individual parts of the covering and the car body serve in all the embodiments of the invention to allow a certain freedom in assembling these parts so that no particular accuracy will be required in doing so. The individual clearances may either be left open to be used for various ventilating purposes or they may be sealed in a suitable manner along the inside so that they will then also not be noticeable from the outside.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof I wish to have it understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments or to the specific examples described, but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim 1. A car body construction particularly for passenger cars, comprising hoodlike upper body covering parts, a top body part intermediate said upper covering parts, lower body covering parts adjacent to said upper covering parts, cap-like covering body parts located adjacent said upper and said lower covering parts at least at one end of the car, some of said adjacent parts having mutually overlapping portions, and other of said adjacent parts having mutually perpendicular portions, the outer walls of said adjacent parts being so disposed as to form slotlike clearances therebetween along the edges thereof, the outer surfaces of two or said other adjacent parts which form one of said slots therebetween subtending an angle of less than 180.

2. A car body as defined in claim 1, wherein the said edges of said adjacent parts are provided with resilient material for sealing said slotlike clearances.

3. A car body as defined in claim 1, wherein the angle between said outer surfaces of said other two adjacent parts is about 4. A car body as defined in claim 1, wherein one of said mutually perpendicular portions projects inwardly of said car body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,104,182 Best Jan. 4, 1938 2,194,459 Frank Mar. 26, 1940 2,236,670 Cadwallader et al Apr. 1, 1941 2,329,874 Cadwallader et al Sept. 21, 1943 2,700,571 Barenyi Jan. 25, 1955 2,767,014 Vlilfert et al Oct. 16, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,067,288 France Jan. 27, 1954 1,070,577 France Feb. 24, 1954 755,321 Germany Oct. 19, 1953 486,968 Great Britain June 14, 1938 506,845 Great Britain June 6, 1939 

